ORIGINAL BUREAUOFMILIARY HISTORY1913-21 BUROSTAIREMILEATA1913-21 No. W.S. 494 ROINN COSANTA. BUREAU OF MILITARY HISTORY, 1913-21. STATEMENT BY WITNESS DOCUMENT NO. W.S. 494 Witness Peter Kieran, 14 Brook Street, Dundalk, Co. Louth. Identity Member of Sinn Fein, Dundalk, 1906-1921; Member of Irish Volunteers, Dundalk, 1914-1921. Subject (a) National Organisations, Dundalk, 1906-1921; (b) in "Split" the Volunteer Organisation; (c) Co. Louth, Easter Week 1916. if Conditions, any, Stipulated by Witness Nil File NO.S.1653 Form BUREAU OFMILITARYHISTORY1913-21 BURO STAITEMILEATA1931-21 ORIGINAL No. W.S. 494 STATEMENT OF Mr. PETER KIERAN 14 Brook Street, Dundalk, County Louth. The start of in Dundalk Was Sinn Fein in the year 1906. The officers of the Dundalk Club were Bill Darcy,, Coburn, President; James Vice-President; Paddy Hughes, Secretary; Joe Magill (deceased), Assistant Secretary. was held The First metting in the Board Room in the Town Hall. Forty members joined. In was 1907 there a change of officers. Paddy Hughes became President. John O'Byrne and Joe Berrill Were the Secretaries. The Club removed to premises at Bachelor's Walk. The Principal activities of Sinn Fein in Dundalk were and holding ceilis which were largely attended producing as Robert Etc. dramas such Emmet, / Paddy Martin, Mick Toner, Hugh Kearney and Willie Brennan Were associated all with Hughes in those activities. About 1908 an excursion boat by left Dundalk for Dublin in the 'Earl of and Union Erne', the Jack was flown on the boat. Paddy Hughes, who travelled on that boat, informed the excursionists that no Irishman should travel under the British flag in Irish and he flag waters cut the down and it fell into the sea. The of the Captain boat threatened to put Paddy in 'irons' but he did not carry out his threat. In the year 1909 I elected was Secretary of the Branch and remained until the Secretary dissolution of Sinn Fein in 1914. This dissolution was caused by formation the of the National Volunteers. /In 2. In October, 1911, a concert and lecture were held in the Town Hall, Dundalk at which Countess Markievicz delivered the lecture on the leaders of 1798, showing lantern slides. The Town Hall Was crammed for the lecture. Tom of Dublin and of Cuffe Cathal O'Byrne Belfast sang at this function. In 1913 another lecture, followed by a concert, was delivered by Major John McBride in the Town Hall. The of subject the lecture was Major McBride's experiences in the Boer War. This lecture was so engrossing to the listeners and the lecturer that some of the officials who to to ran the concert had put an end it after about two to hours permit concert items to be proceeded with. Both these lectures produced such good results that recruiting the for Volunteers was made an easy job. of the Volunteers Dundalk At the start National in in 1913 Eamonn Ceannt, I=think, came to Dundalk to replace was Roger Casement who unable to attend. The fitst meeting was held in the Town Hall and attracted an overflow of This people. meeting unanimously decided to from the National Volunteers. Paddy Hughes was the driving force the behind Volunteers and I would say the man in charge. He was assisted by a Mr. McGrory. The Captains were and McGuirke, Murphy and Moroney - probably a Drill Sergeant. A shoemaker from Dublin, Mick Hearty, Was also a Drill Sergeant. There were about 1,100 men in three large Companies had a special enrolled. We parade and review at about June 1914, Castlebellingham and the numbers travelling there were so that the train could great special engaged not take all who wished travel. to Col. Moore (Meath) on horseback inspected the Volunteers. /The 3. occurred The "split" which in August 1914 in Dundalk was of due to the action the Volunteer Bugle Band being used to paly the Dundalk detachment of the Royal Field barracks Artillery on their way from the military to the on Station their departure for France. This occurred about August, 1914. After this incident Paddy Hughes summoned a meeting of the volunteers to the the Skating Rink in Athletic Grounds at which a hot dispute took of place. After a lot argument and the discussion majority voted in favour of the band's The result action. was that Paddy Hughes and his Sinn Fein followers withdrew from the Nathonal Volunteers. Some few months after this the National Volunteers ceased to exist. Before the "split" took place the National Volunteers secured of forty rifles serviceable pattern. These rifles the were under control of the National Volunteers and in possession for remained their some after the time "split". I understand they were later used by the Home Guard to protect Dundalk against volunteers the in Easter Week 1916. or In about October, 1915, the Irish Volunteers were formed at a meeting in the Council Rooms, Towm Hall, under the chairmanship of Paddy Hughes. The meeting unanimously decided to start the Irish Volunteers. Stormy scenes were witnessed in the precincts of the hall by the opposition crowd to break up this meeting. I arrived late for the meeting and found that it was impossible to get to owing to the opposition through the Council Rooms and had to return home. I was accompanied on this occasion by John Flynn. Some of the mob who to were trying break up the meeting followed us for some distance. They were armed with short batons, but they didn't interfere with us. /The 4. The Irish Volunteers held some meetings subsequent to this in a room in Church Street and later on moved to the our Boyle-O'Reilly Hall. During period in the Boyle-O'Reilly Hall lectures were delivered by Seán and Mulroy Sean MacEntee. Paddy Hughes was officer - in - and charge officers serving under him were Sean MacEntee, Seamus Toal, Felix McQuillan, Frank Necy, Thomas Hearty, Joe Hugh Kearney, Berrill, Peadar Murphy and myself. In 1915 there were forty on the of about men rolls the Irish Volunteers and the numbers increased in 1916 to between 150 to 200 men. For training purposes we had a small bore rifle. Seamus Toal purchased a German repeating rifle for f4. 10. 0. and it was used for training purposes. Nearly every week a revolver was raffled and went into the Volunteer armoury. Counting rifles, shot and guns revolvers we had about 20 weapons. Domhnall O'Hannigan came to Dundalk to take charge of the Dundalk under Volunteers Paddy Hughes about the 1st April, O'Hannigan was who 1916. the man had been trained in the use of arms and the tactics of warfare at Volunteer head quarters in Dublin and came to Dundalk to take military charge during the Rising. From his arrival in Dundalk he had us out on training and manoeuvres about five nights a week and this continued to up the eve of the Rising. At this time slugs were being made for use in shot guns in the Boyle-O'Reilly Hall under the instructions of Mr. O'Hannigan. On Easter Sunday the of which was Company I a member mobilised at Ballybarrack Hall outside Dundalk. We waited there for the men who mobilized at the Boyle-O'Reilly at Hall about 100. strong and when they joined us we Ballybarrack all proceeded /to 5. to Ardee. A two-horse brake and a side-car belonging to Thomas and a Hearty horse-trap belonging to Paddy Hughes accompanied us on arrived our march. We in Ardee about 1 p.m. Two R.I.C. Sergeants, Wymes and Connolly, also accompanied us our arrival cycling. On in Ardee we were met by man phil McMahon and a named Mattews and they handed us at least twenty rifles. After some refreshments in Ardee we proceeded towards Slane via Collon. Shortly after we left Ardee a Sea messenger, MacEntee, came from Dundalk and us MacNeill's countermanding orders. We were halted when arrived the messenger and after some discussion amongst the officers Joe Berrill was sent by Paddy Hughes on a motor bike to get touch with in Dublin to find out if MacNeill's orders were gave considered official there. I don't kown who Berrill was to told contact but it would appear that Paddy Hughes was not taking MacNeill's orders as being official. After Berrill's departure we proceeded on our march and arrived the at Hill of Slane at 6 p.m. The Angelus was ringing. We waited on the Hill of for Slane an hour as men from County Meath were to join us there. They did not turn up as I heard later they. had received MacNeill's orders. Our original orders were to proceed to the Hill of Tara. It started to rain heavily about 7 p.m. and Paddy Hughes made arrangements take over to a bakery during the rain. The owner of the bakery a was man named Johnston. The rain continued during the night and I and a number of others including James Toal, under Second-in-charge Paddy Hughes, Felix McQuillan and Joe McGuill returned to Dundalk on Monday Morning. /During 6. During Monday some stragglers from the Volunteers in arrived Dundalk Slane in in threes and fours. In all about fifty men reported. About 6 p.m. the volunteers in Dundalk heard that the Rising was on in Dublun. I heard that on Joe Berrill Navan Sunday evening arrived in on his motor bike. He was detained by in the R.I.C. Navan from Sunday evening to Monday.